Bears Takeaways – Week 10
8.) Is it time to see what Matt Barkley can do?
I have no delusions that Matt Barkley is part of the Bears future at quarterback, but I’ve seen enough of Jay Cutler. It’s been what, nine years now? Cutler is what he is. An inconsistent gunslinger, who doesn’t always give his best effort and folds when the chips are down.
It’s disappointing to be proven wrong after years of backing Cutler, but I’m done sticking up for him. Sunday was the final straw for me. The front office has made it pretty clear that Cutler is done after this year, so why not see if Barkley shows enough to be a backup in 2017 or maybe even hold down the position while the Bears develop a rookie QB?
It can’t get much worse the rest of the year than it was today. If it does somehow, then the Bears get an even better draft pick in 2017.
9.) The Bears safeties are still terrible
Even with the front seven playing well and getting pressure on Winston, the Bears defense still couldn’t stop the Bucs. The Bears had Winston running for his life half of the game, but whenever he escaped there seemed to be someone open over the middle.
The Bears safeties gave up huge cushions to the Bucs receivers both outside and over the middle. Adrian Amos and Harold Jones-Quartey were always a step or two away from the ball. Even when the Bears blitzed, which wasn’t often, the safeties were still giving way too much cushion in coverage.
Cameron Brate, a 3rd-year TE from Harvard with 4.8 speed, got open all day on both Amos and HJQ. Amos gave up a 10-yard TD to Brate and was beat by two or three steps at least. If these safeties can’t cover a slow tight end, who can they cover? Why did they leave huge gaps over the middle all game?
Shouldn’t have Fangio had them adjust their coverage at the half? Or god-forbid during the game? It seemed every time Winston was in trouble, there was someone open over the middle and the safeties near seemed to be in the right spot.
HJQ did have an interception but eventually got benched for Chris Prosinski. It made no difference. If Amos and HJQ don’t show significant improvement the rest of the season, it looks like the Bears will be looking for safeties again in the draft like they have been since Mike Brown left Chicago. Maybe Conte will be available?
10.) Conte’s Revenge!
In a game full of disappointing plays, watching former Bears Chris Conte pick off a pass and return it for a touchdown was the most painful for me. After years of being a liability in the Bears secondary, Conte finally made a good play… against the Bears. So this is what rock bottom feels like.
Conte didn’t hold back his feelings about Bears fans and Chicago media in his post-game interview:
“I hate to make it personal, but for me it is personal,” Conte told Rich Campbell of the Chicago Tribune. “It feels great. I don’t want to say, ‘(Expletive) you, Chicago.’ But, I want to say, ‘(Expletive) you, Chicago.’”
11.) At least this helped the Bears draft position
It’s painful to already to talking about 2017 draft position in week ten of the 2016 season, but the reality is that the draft is all Bears fans have to look forward to right now. The Bears will be in the market for a quarterback, so I broke down the top eight draftable QBs and then the next eight earlier this week.